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Headline: The MGA's 55th President — Jack Dezieck — Recognized For His Service to Amateur Golf in a Recent Issue of the Berkshire Eagle

For Immediate Release: June 6, 2010

Jack Dezieck, who officiates an average of 20 MGA events per season, is seen here at the 2009 MGA Open Championship.

Norton, MA  Last November, Jack Dezieck became the 55th president of the MGA.

As part of the MGA's Annual Meeting which was attended by more than 100 members of the MGA staff, Executive Committee, Rules Officials and various Member Club officials and personnel, Dezieck accepted the position and all of the responsibility that came along with the honor.

Since that time, Dezieck has represented the organization fully and masterfully and has even gained recognition from local media outlets.

This past Sunday, Dezieck was featured by the Berkshire Eagle's new golf writer, Richard Lord.

Read on to learn more about the MGA's 55th president and the wealth of experience and knowledge he has to give back to the Bay State golfing community.

GREAT BARRINGTON - Get Jack Dezieck to talk about anything related to golf and one thing becomes clear instantly.

He has a passion for and knowledge of the game few can rival.

The good news is that the native of Housatonic, current Great Barrington resident and Wyantenuck Country Club member is using both to benefit state golfers as president of the Massachusetts Golf Association.

Dezieck, who started his twoyear term in October 2009, is believed to be the MGA's second Berkshires- based president and the first area native in the position. John English, the former treasurer of Williams College, served a one-year term in 1970.

"Being the first [area native] is a great accolade, a great accomplishment," said Wyantenuck head professional Tom Sullivan. "Jack has always had a positive effect on the game. All he does for golf, there's not enough to say. He just loves the game."

Dezieck is a good player, has served both the United States Golf Association and MGA for more than two decades, is the longtime Wyantenuck treasurer and in his spare time - and who knows where he finds any - has assembled a collection of golf memorabilia to rival any.

And did we mention he has a day job? Dezieck is vice president and comptroller for John Hull Inc., a fuel oil company.

"It's always good to work for an avid golfer," he said of Hull, who is also a Wyantenuck member.

As for the state of his game, Dezieck, 63, says his handicap hovers around a "6 or 7" after having been as low as a 2 earlier in his golfing life.

"I'm not a good as I used to be, but golf is a great game to be with your friends, that's what it's all about," he said.

Dezieck's passion for the game started early.

"I'd pull a cart for my dad after he got out of work at an old ninehole course," recalls Dezieck.

In the summer when he was 9, he'd go to Wyantenuck daily but didn't get a chance to work. The next year he got his opportunity.

"I'd shag balls when the pro (Clem Rafferty) gave lessons," said Dezieck, who then got an opportunity to be a caddie, and eventually the caddie master.

His credits Rafferty, pro at Wyantenuck for 42 years, for getting him started as a player.

"The caddies could play on Mondays and Clem made sure we all had clubs," Dezieck said.

He went on to attend Holy Cross and and then served his country, spending one year in Vietnam, before returning to the Berkshires to stay.

Dezieck found a new golfing passion on a trip to Scotland in 1974.

"I saw all the artifacts they had in the clubhouses, found a few clubs and brought them back with me and haven't stopped since," he said. "I collect every day of the week.

"I've made friends all over the world doing it."

Included in his collection, he said, are more than 2,000 golf books from 1930 and earlier and more than 1,000 golf postcards, almost all from prior to 1910.

In the '80s, Dezieck began his involvment with the USGA and MGA. In 2009, he received the Ike Grainger Award, which honors volunteers who have served the USGA for 25 years. Not surprisingly, that work entailed tireless efforts on behalf of the organization's golf museum.

Becky Blaeser, the MGA's director of communications, said Dezieck was also the driving force behind the creation of that organization's own golf museum, which is located at the MGA's Golf House in Norton.

Dezieck started with the MGA in the late '80s as a volunteer rules official.

He eventually served as the head of the championship committee for eight years before moving up to vice president and eventually president. Dezieck estimates he makes about 20 trips a year to Norton and works at about 20 tournaments. And there are a lot of emails and phone calls back and forth as well.

MGA Executive Director Joe Sprague said Dezieck brings a lot to the table.

"Along with a passion for the game, Jack brings a wealth of experience as a player, a board member and committee member for the USGA," Sprague said. " He brings credibility to our organization."

And, make no mistake, MGA president isn't a ceremonial position.

"While the staff handles the day-to-day operations, and we have ideas, the ship gets guided downstream by the executive commmittee, and the president in particular," Sprague said.